Zigmund Palffy | Winger

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Zigmund Palffy has decided to retire from professional hockey at the age of 41.

Palffy hasn't played in the NHL since the 2005-06 campaign, but he's been dominant in the Slovak Extraliga for years. He had 26 goals, 73 points, and 103 penalty minutes in 39 games with Skalica in 2012-13. "One morning is more beautiful than the previous one, and you have other opinions. At this point, I believe that I quit. Definitive. Already I do not want to travel anywhere. Did it enough," said Palffy. He had some tremendous seasons in the NHL and is retiring with 329 goals and 713 points in 684 career contests with the New York Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, and Pittsburgh Penguins. Wed, Jul 31, 2013 02:47:00 PM

It's hard not to at least picture what Zigmund Palffy might do in the NHL after games like Sunday; he scored three points in Skalica's 7-1 thrashing of Martin on Sunday.

Obviously, it's unlikely that he'd come back to North America being that he hasn't played an NHL game since 2005-06. Even so, his 37 points in 19 games this season (and 83 in 48 contests in 2011-12) represent impressive marks - inferior competition or not. Sun, Dec 30, 2012 03:28:00 PM

Zigmund Palffy had a goal and four assists in Skalica's 6-5 victory against Nitra.

That gives Palffy 22 points in just 13 Slovakian games. Palffy hasn't played in the NHL since 2005-06 and at the age of 40 a comeback seems unlikely. Still, he's dominating in the Slovak League. Fri, Nov 23, 2012 06:25:00 PM

Former NHL star Zigmund Palffy is playing for HC 36 Skalica in the Slovak League.

The 40 year old retired after the 2009-10 season but returned last season and managed 26 goals and 83 points in 48 games. He is off to a good start again this season with a couple of goals and an assist in two games. He had five seasons of 85 or more points in the NHL during his career. Mon, Sep 24, 2012 07:29:00 AM

Depth Charts

The Pittsburgh Penguins are one of two NHL teams whose top five players will account for more than 50 percent of their salary cap space.

The other team is the Chicago Blackhawks. Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, Kris Letang and Marc-Andre Fleury will make $38 million in 2015-16, which is 53.2 percent of their cap. "You can have one philosophy or another on it, but I feel that sometimes your philosophy is adjusted to the players that you have," assistant general manager Jason Botterill said. "This is the situation we have here. We're very excited about the players we have. It's our job to make it work."

Perhaps Evgeni Malkin isn't seeking a trade after all as he agent denies the rumor.

"I don't know where this is coming from. Not from me or Geno," said Malkin's agent JP Barry of the report. "I'm trying to ignore it." This time of year, it can be difficult to put much stock in rumors that are less well-known around the league. And when you consider that Malkin dings the cap at $9.5M through 2021-22, without a dip in actual salary, it makes it even harder to fathom how he'd be moved in the first place.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired Nick Bonino, Adam Clendening, and a second round selection in 2016 from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a 2016 third-rounder and Brandon Sutter.

Bonino had 15 goals and 39 points in 75 contests in an extremely hot-and-cold season with Vancouver in 2014-15. He only really came out into his own in 2013-2014, but at the age of 27 we can't expect him to continue to grow offensively. On top of that, this move will likely hurt his fantasy value as he's moving from a situation where he would have been the second line center to a team that will likely stick him on the third line. For Pittsburgh though this frees up some cap space as Bonino comes with a $1.9 million annual hit through 2016-17 compared to Sutter's $3.3 million hit in 2015-16 followed by him possibly testing the UFA waters.

Oskar Sundqvist, a Penguins forward prospect, is aiming to break camp with the NHL team.

The Penguins currently don’t have a center for their fourth line, so Sundqvist has a chance to claim a spot early in the season. The 6-foot-3, 209-pound forward had 19 points in the Swedish Hockey League last season. He also had two goals during the 2014-15 preseason. "It's all about the camp, how I perform there," Sundqvist said. "Like last year, I had my best time during the year during the camp. So I'm just looking for me to make a big impression on [Penguins coach Mike Johnston] and I'm hoping that's in his mind still.

Although Chris Kunitz is no longer a lock to play on the Penguins' top line, it hasn't been ruled out either.

"It's wide open for (Kunitz)," Penguins GM Jim Rutherford said. "His overall season wasn't as good last year as what was expected, but he's still a good player. If he has a good offseason, he can come in and play on the top line if he's ready to go. He's not a guy that I was out there trying to move to another team (in a trade). I still believe in him." Kunitz had 17 goals and 40 points in 74 games last season. At the age of 35 (36 in September), we wouldn't count on him bouncing back.

Coach Mike Johnston said that David Perron is not shooting the puck enough.

"David needs to get three or four shots a game," Johnston said..."He's got that good shot, a quick release. He has a tendency to over-think. He's just got to shoot. He's a shooter. He's a scorer. He's got to trust his instincts." Perron did a little better on Saturday as he managed three shots on goal but he still has not scored since March 15.

Russian winger Sergei Plotnikov is expected to arrive in Pittsburgh in August to acclimate himself to North American life.

Plotnikov signed a one-year contract with the Penguins on Wednesday after he paid Lokomotiv $500,000 to get out of his KHL contract. He had 15 goals and 36 points in 56 KHL games and is considered chippy as he had 156 penalty minutes over 112 games in his last two KHL seasons. He is worth a flier, especially if he is able to crack the Penguins lineup as a top-six forward. The 25-year-old was undrafted.

Beau Bennett has been working with a new trainer and nutritionist over the summer in the hopes of ending his injury woes.

Bennett is just 23 years old, but his career to date has been substantially hurt by injuries. "I've put in a lot of work this summer to prevent this stuff," Bennett said. "Just so I can get stronger on the ice and stronger in some tough situations." He recently signed a one-year, $800,000 contract.

Kessel is expected to get a big boost from playing with either Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby after being acquired by the Penguins. We agree that Kessel is in a great position to surpass his career-high of 37 goals, which he set in 2011-12 and 2013-14 with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Despite that, Hornqvist had two goals and three points in five playoff games. He also logged 20:54 minutes of ice time in the Penguins' final contest against the New York Rangers. He will presumably be fine for the start of the 2015-16 campaign.

Pascal Dupuis is expected to begin skating right away, as he works his way back from a blood clot on his lung.

He has received clearance to play again and is projected to be ready for next season. Dupuis' career was in jeopardy after the blood clot was diagnosed in November. "They have found the proper medication for him to continue to work out in full and prepare for next season to play," said GM Jim Rutherford. "It's really nice for him because we all know how determined and how hard he works. I'm very happy for him. He just works so hard."

Eric Fehr has signed a three-year, $6 million contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Fehr had 19 goals and 33 points in 75 games with the Washington Capitals in 2014-15. There's an opportunity here for Fehr to play alongside either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, which would obviously be a great boost to him. However, we're hesitant to recommend actually drafting him in standard leagues because Pittsburgh also revealed that he had elbow surgery on June 3. His timetable is four-to-six months, which means that he could be out until December and even when he does return, he might find it difficult to hit his stride after missing a significant chunk of the early season.

Bryan Rust knows what he has to do to win one of the bottom-six spots on the Penguins roster in September.

"I’ll be trying to skate as much as I can, my down-low offensive skills. I’ll work on my strength on the puck, kind of my net-front play," said Rust a 23-year-old forward who played 14 games last season, . "I know my speed is something I have thrived with, using my feet to take defensemen wide, and my hustle and my work. But if I can be a little bit stronger with the puck and hold the puck in the offensive zone a little more, I’ll be able to create some more offensive chances and that’s where I’m really going to make a name for myself."

He continues to work his way back from a concussion, but has no doubt that he'll be ready to go in the fall. The resilient defenseman suffered a stroke in late January 2014 and bounced back with an outstanding season. Letang had 11 goals and 54 points in 69 contests before a concussion prematurely ended his run.

Olli Maatta is on schedule with his recovery from his shoulder surgery in January.

Maatta's goal is to be ready for the start of training camp. He's coming off of a terribly unlucky campaign that also involved him having a cancerous tumor on his thyroid gland removed and battle the mumps. He finished with a goal and nine points in 20 contests.

He picked up one goal and eight points in 20 games with the Penguins after he was acquired from St. Louis. His responsibilities grew in Pittsburgh as time progressed and he ended up averaging 23:00 of ice time during the postseason.

More specifically, Rutherford said, "The one move that I questioned was trading a young defenseman for a veteran defenseman." Lovejoy, 31, ended up recording two assists and averaging 19:26 minutes per contest in the Penguins' five-game series against the New York Rangers. He still has one season left in his three-year, $3.3 million contract.

Penguins GM Jim Rutherford said he has the authority from ownership to buy out players if he deems it necessary.

Rob Scuderi would probably be the top candidate for that if the Penguins buy out anyone at all. He has two years left of his contract at $3,375,000 per. Scuderi, 36, doesn't do much offensively, but he did block 110 shots in 82 contests in 2014-15. Still, buying him out would free up some much needed cap space. We aren't expecting the Penguins to actually buy anyone out, but we wouldn't completely dismiss the idea either.

He was moved in the Phil Kessel deal mainly because the Leafs had to unload a couple of contracts to be under the NHL-mandated 50 limit. We have always liked Erixons' offensive potential from the blueline but we may be the only ones. We doubt Erixon will make much of an impact in Pittsburgh this season but you never know. Erixon's season high points total is seven in 42 games, achieved last season between three teams.

Niclas Andersen is eager to head to North America and prove he can play at the NHL level.

Andersen signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Penguins. "It's two months until I go there, but right now, it feels like I want to go right now. Like tomorrow or something," Andersen said. He said that he's prepared to play in the AHL if that's what the Penguins ask of him, but he thinks he can make Pittsburgh's opening game roster. He had five goals and 22 points in 54 Swedish league contests in 2014-15.

Brian Dumoulin doesn't want to take his roster spot for granted after getting a one-way contact.

Dumoulin will come with an annual cap hit of $800,000 in each of the next two seasons. "I definitely want to make the team," Dumoulin said. "That's my goal. But just signing a one-way deal doesn’t guarantee I'll be on the team. I really need to earn my spot and create a spot for myself. Prove in the coaches' eyes and my teammates' eyes and management that I belong there and that I earned it and that I worked hard for it." For his part, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford is projecting that Dumoulin will serve as a top-six defenseman.

Derrick Pouliot has been committed this offseason to getting into the
best physical shape entering the new season.

The 21-year-old has a prime opportunity in front of him and is
expected to become an integral part of the Penguins defense moving
forward. He has worked out with ex-Penguin Gary Roberts and revamped
his diet. "I think I’m capable of being a reliable defender in this
league. I think I can produce even more offensively, too," Pouliot
said. "It’s really about taking a two-way role, not giving up anything
and creating some chances for us. I’ll come into camp in shape and be
able to handle some more minutes and keep up with those guys." Pouliot
had seven points in 34 NHL games last year, with 24 points in 31 AHL
contests.

Marc-Andre Fleury was outstanding in Friday's tilt against the New York, but the Penguins still fell 2-1 to the Rangers in overtime.

The Penguins have now officially been eliminated from the playoffs. Despite going down in five games, Fleury was still very good for most of the series. The same held true in game five, as the Penguins would have never even made it to overtime had it not been for their goaltender. The 30-year-old stopped 34 of 36 shots on Friday, but he will probably want to have Carl Hagelin's overtime winner back. Fleury was heavily criticized coming into the season, but he responded by having a solid year in 2014-15. He finishes the playoffs with a 1-4 record with a 2.12 goals-against-average and a .927 save percentage. The most impressive thing about Fleury's numbers is that he posted them without his top three defensemen playing in the series (Letang, Ehrhoff, Maatta). It should be an interesting off-season in Pittsburgh.